We recently connected with Hippie Mike and have shared our conversation below.
Hippie, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
My name is Hippie Mike and I am a Skateboarder for Life.
In 2003 I started working for the City of Surrey teaching skateboard lessons and working in some of the local Youth Centres, just hanging out with kids and being a positive role model, I was a sponsored skateboarder in my mid 20’s and owned a small skateboard company that just promoted skateboarding in general. Working with children changed me into a new person that I didn’t really know existed. I started skateboarding and snowboarding in the mid-80’s, I had always been pretty hardcore growing up and didn’t really consider myself to be the most positive role model at all times. But I think that’s what actually helped me to become that new person, knowing what I didn’t want to be in life and wanting to help others have a bit of an easier time finding themselves as they grew up.
I was the only skateboard instructor in the city of surrey and I quickly gained a following from many of the kids I was teaching, and started teaching some of them privately on the side as they were the ones that had real potential of becoming a sponsored skateboarder, or even turning Pro one day. As I grew into this role I also created a series of skateboard competitions named Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey that was all about having fun and supporting each other while also training the next generation how to compete in skateboarding. This series lasted 10 years and changed the entire attitude of skateboarding in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley, teaching people to collaborate and bringing the industry closer together. It also helped to create some of today’s top skateboarders in the world, including Andy Anderson who became Canada’s first Olympian Skateboarder. These events, lessons, and everything else I was doing with the City of Surrey brought a lot of positive attention and feedback and ended up giving us 5 new public skate parks to enjoy, setting the standard for other cities to follow. Over the next few years I grew into a city wide supervisor in charge of everything that happened in the skate parks: lessons, events, park hosts, etc., and that really shaped me for the future.
Leaving the City of Surrey after 11 years was tough but it was time to move on, I opened a Skate Shop in the rough part of town named Authentic Board Supply. The shop was opened in a partnership which oversaw 5 shops in total and I quickly became Operations Manager for all 5 shops. I kept up with the community aspects that made me who I was by running lots of events all over the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, and Vancouver Island. I sponsored a lot of young skaters that I wanted to help connect properly to the industry and spent a lot of time filming and shooting photos with them, while also still skating hard myself and being the older guy that pushed their limits.
In 2014/2015 my leg started falling apart internally and after months of unsuccessful rehab I knew there was something really wrong. I had to undergo multiple surgeries over the next few years to repair it, my tibia bone was warped and had torn my ACL completely in half. I left the shops, the lessons, and the city of Surrey behind and moved to a very quiet place near Hope BC called Sunshine Valley. I was able to build my house in between two of the surgeries and be properly prepared to recover from the big one when it came. I stopped doing lessons and events, quit all my skateboard sponsors, and just tried to concentrate on my overall health. My wife and 2 kids stuck by my side and supported me in every way they could, reminding me what my full purpose was in life, but depression was heavy and hard to overcome. I spent my whole life training to be this amazing skateboarder that everyone looked up to and I felt like my career was over…
After healing from the big surgery in 2017 I ended up breaking my ankle in 2019 and found out then that it had actually been broken multiple times over the past 7 years and was the root of the rest of the issues. When I healed up from that surgery and was able to skateboard again I said to my son Kaelen “This year is gonna be about me, just having fun on my skateboard again and not caring about what anybody thought” and that’s what we did. We spent the summer of 2020 traveling around to skate parks and just having fun, no filming, no photos, no sponsors, just pure skateboarding, the way it was when I first began…
As the summer came to an end and my daughter was ready to start kindergarten I was ready to find myself again, I realized what was missing in my life was that community aspect I used to bring to the skateboard world. I wanted to create a place where I could put all my talents in one place, work with kids again, and help raise this next generation to be positive leaders, and so I opened HMI Skate Park in Hope BC.
HMI Skate Park (Hippie Mike Industries) is a place where everyone can come and have fun together no matter their age, skill level, cultural background, or anything else. We host lessons and events all the time that are all about having fun and just bringing communities together. After 4 years we have helped to raise some really amazing skateboarders, and people in general. We have produced 2 documentaries showcasing HMI Skate Park and what it does for the community, and were also awarded the Most Inclusive Environment Award at the 2024 Fraser Valley Cultural Diversity Awards. Every day is a struggle to afford to keep the doors open but we know that if the purpose is positive it will work out, and I just keep on pushing forward. We do fundraisers, collect empty cans and bottles, and try to make any sales we can to pay the bills.
My goal is to do whatever it takes keep these doors open for years to come, but whether HMI Skate Parks exists or not I will continue to be a positive role model for the next generations, sharing all the good and all the bad for them to choose the directions they want to travel in life, as I believe this is my purpose…
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Hippie Mike Industries is a business that creates opportunity for others. We hold the lease on a large building in Hope BC that has the main purpose of the HMI Skate Park and HMI Skate Shop, but we also rent out other sections of the building for a Martial Arts studio, Flower Shop, and 2 Workshops.
HMI Skate Park is about raising the next generation of skateboarders, guiding them in the right directions for success in the industry, and making sure they have fun on the journey. We offer public Drop-Ins, Public and Private Lessons, and run lots of fun inclusive events.
The skate shop is full of gear for all types of skateboarders or just people who like our culture. You can purchase HMI Apparel in store or online.
The HMI Skate Park Society is there to help us with fundraising to assist in paying the rent in today’s brutal economy, we run specific fundraisers and take any donations, including empty bottles and cans.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
3 most important qualities or skills on my journey were definitely working close with the community, passing on knowledge and experience to the next generation, and being myself.
If everyone can find who they want to be and enjoy themselves for who they are, then chances are others will want to be around them. I utilize my popularity to bring communities together and collaborate in ways that might not happen naturally but will benefit many people at once. And the passing of knowledge and experience are just stories for people to enjoy, to take the good and the bad from and decide what pieces they can use in their own journeys.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Financial Struggle is the number one obstacle I am facing right now. Since the outstanding jump in the economy in 2022 it has been close to impossible to afford the rent, insurance, and other bills that come with HMI Skate Park. We loan money to the business if we have it but that is running out, I personally have not been paid for what I do for over 3 years now and that is becoming a big struggle in our personal life as well. The goal is to continue to expand what we do in the rest of Hippie Mike Industries and bring in more income from outside the walls of the business, on top of continued fundraising and specialty sales items that help us get by.
We are always looking for support and open to collaboration in many ways. Feel free to drop me a line anytime at contact@hippiemike.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hippiemike.com
- Instagram: hippiemike1
- Facebook: Hippie Mike
- Youtube: Hippie Mike
- Other: @HMISKATEPARK on Instagram
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